Improvement in refrigerating-cars



2 Sheets'-Sheet 1.

J.M. AYER. REFRIGERATING CAR.

No.181,391.- Patented Aug. 22, 1876.

In van 3071 J'ohn yer PATENT Erica,

JOHN M. AYER,.OF GHIGAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN REFRlGERATlNG-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent NO. I 81,391, dated August22, 1876; application filed May 27, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN M. AYER, of Ohicago, in the county of 000k andState of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement inRefrigerator-Oars, which is fully described in the followingspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the car with certain portionscut away. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the car; Figs..3and 4., enlargeddetail views, showing two constructions of the roof;Fig. 5, a transverse sectional view, showing the interior of the-car.Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view through the refrigerator. Fig. 7is a plan view of the refrigerator with the roof of the car removed.Fig.8 is a vertical section taken at the line 3 y, Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is ahorizontal section of the car-door, and a'detached portion of the sideof the car to which the doorsare attached.

My invention relates more particularly to what are termed refrigeratorrailway-cars, used for the purpose of preserving articles by keepingthem cool while being transporte to a remote market.

My invention relates to mechanism in the construction of the car, andcan be applied to stationary refrigerators and rooms for preservingperishable materials, as well as movable apartments, like railway-carsand ships.

My invention consists in the structure of the roof of the car withindia-rnbber sheathing and board lining and two inclosed air-spaces. Ain the accompanying drawings represents the frame of a railway-car; B,the outside boards, which are tongued and grooved or otherwise closelyfitted together. 0 are the inside or lining boards of the car. D is adouble floor. Eare the roof-boards, which are made double, and F is aninside lining of boards to the roof, which forms an additionalair-space. G is the ordinary race-board on the top of the car. Hrepresents the layer of india-rubber cloth or rubber packing, whichmakes a lining to the wall, and also between the roof-boards and thefloor-boards, as shown in the drawings.

I do not limit myself, however, to placing the india-rubber lining injust the position here shown, it being the purpose to place it in suchpositions in the roof, floor, and walls as to form a lining or coatingthereto, and make the refrigerator impervious to heat.

I have an ice-apartment, I, at each end of the car, which is reached bya man-hole, J, through the roof of the car. K are beveled strips, uponwhich the ice is placed, and L are concave strips placed beneath thebeveled strips K, that support the ice in such a manner as to catch thedrip as the ice melts, and at the same time admit of the circulation ofthe air through the compartment, as hereafter specified.

P is a pipe for conducting the water from the refrigerator. There may beplaced in this pipe a valve, which will admit of the water passing out,and prevent the admission of air. M is a small compartment under theice, in which such articles are placed as are desirable to keepparticularly 0001. N N are airpassages from the main cooling-apartmentof the refrigerator into the ice-apartment, and O O are air-passagesfrom the compartment M into the main cooling-apartment. The air passesfrom the main coolingapartment into the ice-apartment, where it comes incontact with the ice, passes down between the beveled strips K andconvex strips L into the apartment M, and out into the maincooling-apartment. Q Q are openings through the outer case Boftherefrigerator-car, opening into' the space in the wall at such places vaswill produce ventilation of air through-the space. I place theseopenings so as to ventilate any airspace I may make either in the wall,roof, or floor of the refrigerator. The doors R of the car are madesolid, of three thicknesses of boards, With the sheet-rubber or liningof rubber packing between them, and .so constructed as to makebevel-joints and a rubber packing in each of the joints, as shown at S.

I make a refrigerator-car which is nearly as light as an ordinaryfreight-car, is so constructed as to require but a small quantity ofice, has nearly as much space for freight as an ordinary freightcar, hasfree circulation of air from its cooling-apartment through theiceapartment, has its walls ventilated in such manner as to gather noimpurities or odors, and is almost impervious to heat and otherinflences from the external atmosphere.

I construct the roof of the car either with an air-space, as shown at Tin Fig. 3, or without it, as shown at Fig. 4;

I place a railing, U, around the top of the car, under the roof, asshown in Fig. 1, for the brakeman to catch hold of and save himself fromfalling from the car in case of accident when the car is slippery.

I do not claim, broadly, the use of indiarubber sheathing with singleairspace and board lining, because that is shown in my patent dated July18, 1876, No. 180,088.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

board F, inclosing two air-spaces, as shown,

combined with the hollow side walls B O and india-rubber sheathing H, asset forth.

JOHN M. AY ER.

Witnesses:

L. A. BUNTING, L. M. HARRIS.

